the premise: interesting, up to a point. Having two cities with entirely different laws, language, and culture superimposed on a single space with a panopticon gvt agency exercising near-superpowers that prevents the two kinds of citizens from looking at each other? And meanwhile, the divide between them completely ignored by people from other countries?? It is full of wtf-ery. The traffic laws alone break my head. /o\

presumed shout-outs: to Bon Cop, Bad Cop and possibly to the Inspector Lynley series(?) (Corwi and Havers should go have a pint) were cute, and it's nice to see Canada get mentioned.

the setting: a really interesting allegory to large cities with large populations who speak different languages: Arabs in Paris, Latin Americans in Miami, Quebecois in Montreal, etc.

the structure: Agatha Christie at her worst, complete with pointless byzantine counterplots and an obnoxious reveal at the end.

women: exist only to be killed, fucked, proved wrong, grossly taken advantage of, and/or totally undervalued. Or else they can be bystanders who never, ever intervene. OTOH, they're never defined by how attractive they are or aren't, and it was nice to see beauty plainly ignored as a form of cultural currency. Also nice to see women shown as variously brilliant or dumb as the men.

queer people: apparently don't exist in this 'verse except for the secret drag show in a crime boss' hidden bank basement bar. Apparently drag shows are illegal there?

men: fairly anonymous heroes and villains. Our hero is supercop but has no friends, family, or anything he really cares about. He has no stakes, so the ending is totally predictable.

characterization: the only characters with any depth are the two women who die, although a couple of other women have brief good moments. Everyone else, protagonist included, comes off as a cardboard cut-out.

in sum: a sequel might be better, assuming he can figure out (and figure out a better way to present) the rules of his 'verse.

This book confused me. I'm pretty sure it was meant to, but that doesn't help much. I'm confused as to how literally I'm supposed to take the two-city division, I'm confused as to what it symbolizes, I'm confused as to how it works or even got started, and I'm confused as to why I found it so hypnotic. This is basically a whodunnit, but I couldn't put it down. There weren't any kraken or horses or naked mole-rats, but it's still compellingly readable (though puzzling). I enjoyed reading it, and I'm enjoying puzzling over it. For that, I do recommend it.

Zajebisty setting i historia spójnie się w niego wpasowująca przez całą książkę choć zakończenie rozczarowuje to jednak nie bo tu chodziło cały czas o pogrywanie z oczekiwaniami czytelników a nie magiczne rozwiązania i odpowiedzi
Booyah

What book do you get when you cross the genres of noir detective and magic realism? Since you are reading this review, you can probably hazard a pretty accurate guess. "The City and the City" pulls together some of the most engaging elements of those genres to create something truly unique. The setting of the "The City and the City" is fantastical, with two cities imposed on top of one another but where travel between them is heavily policed. Unfortunately, Miéville has to go to great lengths throughout the novel to justify how such a geographical situation can reach a long-term equilibrium because, in reality, the concept of "breach" would not last. The action and suspense building, along with fleshed-out political structure, makes the novel a joy to read. My main issues with the novel are that the main antagonist never has their motivations fully realised, the ending results in no real political change to how the two cities interact, and the protagonist cop just becomes a super cop through coercion and a dull sense of "why the hell not? There is nothing else better to do now". It appears Miéville lost his intellectual steam in the last 20% of the book and struggled to tie it all perfectly together. Regardless of these criticisms, "The City and the City" is a must read for all speculative fiction (and many crime thriller) lovers.